Miss Point Mallard Through the Years
When Kathie McDaniel was crowned Miss Spirit of America Festival on July 4, 1971, her stage was a flatbed truck at Delano Park.
The pageant name was changed to Miss Point Mallard when the festival moved to an expansive concrete stage at Point Mallard Park. Karen Pressnell was the first titleholder.
Celebrating its 39th year in 2009, the Miss Point Mallard pageant is one of the longest running and most successful pageants within the Miss Alabama system. It holds the distinction of producing more Top 10 contestants than any other state preliminary. The pageant is consistently recognized by the Miss Alabama Pageant for Most Prizes Awarded to participants and has also been named Best Open Preliminary. “Open” means that any young woman between the ages of 17 and 24 who lives in or is a full-time student in Alabama can enter. “Closed” preliminaries limit participation to a certain city, county or region.
In 1978, Teresa Cheatham was the first Miss Point Mallard to win the Miss Alabama crown. She went on to become first runner-up to Miss America and captured preliminary swimsuit and talent awards.
Julie Hitt was crowned Miss Alabama in 1985, but resigned. In 1992, Kim Wimmer was the third Miss Point Mallard to win the state title.
Probably the most well-known Miss Point Mallard is Heather Whitestone. The profoundly deaf ballerina from Pelham was first runner-up to Miss Alabama while competing as Miss Point Mallard. The next year, she won the state title as Miss Cullman Area and went on to be crowned Miss America.
Heather Whitestone
Other former Miss Point Mallards, including Shannon Camper of Glencoe and Jamie Langley of Wadley, also were later crowned Miss Alabama. Only two women, Camper and Katie Boyd of Pelham, have won the Miss Point Mallard title twice.
The most recent Decatur resident to wear the crown was Jessica Wheeler in 2003.
Haley Arrington, Miss Point Mallard 2008
Hometown: Glencoe, Alabama
Talent: Vocal
Here is a list of titleholders:
Miss Spirit of America Festival
1971: Kathie McDaniel
1972: Becky Marshall
1973: Connie Morrow
1974: Beatrice Files
1975: Kyle Ellis
Miss Point Mallard
1976: Karen Pressnell
1977: Teresa Cheatham
1978: Cheryl Burgess
1979: Heidi Moore
1980: Deborah Klingenbeck
1981: Kathy Waite*
1981: Margaret Ann Renneker
1982: Tammy Little
1983: Angela Stepp
1984: Freda McNair
1985: Julie Hitt
1986: Dana Southard
1987: Tiffany Riggins
1988: Jana Whitehead
1989: Shea Pruitt
1990: Paige Sutton
1991: Kim Wimmer
1992: Heather Whitestone
1993: Leigh Sherer
1994: Alison McCreary
1995: Rachel Bobo
1996: Stephanie Gwaltney
1997: Christine Chilton
1998: Shannon Camper
1999: Britney Colagross
2000: Shannon Camper
2001: Kelley Brown
2002: Amy Drake
2003: Jessica Wheeler
2004: Jamie Langley
2005: Katie Boyd
2006: Jessica Headley
2007: Katie Boyd
*Kathy Waite was killed in an automobile accident during her reign. She was succeeded by Margaret Ann Renneker.